Shaw’s Cove, Laguna Beach, CA

Dove with Nick (Photos By Nick)

This is one of Nick’s suggested spots.

I met Nick at his place, we took his truck from there.

It took an hour to get there on PCH (from Long Beach).

Shaw’s Cove is a small beach with a stair case leading up to a residential area.

We entered the water around 10 AM, maybe 10:30 AM.

Nick had his camera, I had my spear.

Facing the ocean, we swam out and submerged.

We swam toward the West; not much kelp.

There were a lot of empty mussel shells that littered the bottom.

Small fish, star fish, some sea urchins.

We found the arch and swam through.

On the other side of the arch (going West) was a very strong current that kept pushing us back.

There’s also a cave a little North East of the arch — well, maybe a tube like reef structure.

I went in, but it looked really narrow, so I backed out.

Nick did the photography, although I snapped a few pictures myself.

The exit was easy; there’s a lot of stairs going back up.

Well, same amount as down, but going back up sucked.

We threw all the stuff in the back of Nick’s truck and went to the dive store to fill the tanks.

I’m borrowing Instructor Ed’s tank, so I had to get it visually inspected. The last tag was from 2002.

In with: 2900 psi
Out with: 800 psi
Waves: 2 feet, breaking close to shore
Max depth: 25 feet
Water Temperature: 63 degrees F — According to Nick’s thermometer.
Visibility: 15 feet